This collection consists of photographs taken by Agricultural Experiment Station staff of
Station agricultural research both in Corvallis and at Branch Stations throughout Oregon.
The bulk of the collection is a group of photographs from the John Jacob Astor Branch
Experiment Station documenting its various research programs including the Northrup
Creek Grazing Experiment, dairy cattle breeding and management, forage crops
development, beef cattle production, and tussock (and other) weed control.

Other images of especial note in the collection are photographs of Asian pears and their
marketing taken by Frank Charles Reimer, Superintendent of the Southern Oregon
Experiment Station, during a 1917 trip to China.

Forms

This collection includes a variety of photographic forms including (in order of decreasing
prominence): b/w prints; b/w negatives; color slides; color prints; and color negatives.
Most of the b/w prints are 5x7 or smaller. The b/w negatives include a large number on
nitrate-based stock which are stored separately. The collection includes original camera
negatives for many of the b/w prints; there are also a substantial number of negatives
without accompanying prints. The color negatives are from the mid-1940s and show some
color shift. There are no prints of these negatives.

Organization and Arrangement

About 210 images have been assigned item numbers [P29:1-210]. The remainder consists
of the accession from the Astor Branch Station which are arranged by subject and described
at the folder-level in the following inventory. Within this accession, prints, negatives (with
the exception of nitrate), and slides are stored together. About 700 of the nitrate negatives
are stored in negative albums [Albums A-G] with item-level descriptions. These
descriptions (using the negative numbers assigned in the albums) have
been incorporated into the accompanying inventory.

Historical Note

The John Jacob Astor Experiment Station was established in 1913 at a site 4 miles
southeast of Astoria in Clatsop County to conduct agricultural research under coastal
conditions, specifically to investigate and demonstrate agricultural possibilities of reclaiming
and utilizing tidelands and logged-off lands. The Northrup Creek Grazing Experiment was
begun in 1936 on the site of one of the Tillamook forest fires to study the seeding,
fertilizing, grazing, and management of logged-off and burned-over timberlands and the
effects of grazing on reforestation. The project continued until the early 1950s. The John
Jacob Astor Station was closed in 1972. Herbert B. Howell served as Station
superintendent from 1934 until 1965 and Elmer Dent as Assistant Superintendent in 1946-
1954.

Related Materials

Many other photographs of Agricultural Experiment Station programs are part of the
Agricultural Communications (P 120), Experiment
Station Publications (P 132), and Station
Bulletin Illustrations (P 19) Photographic
Collections. A b/w 16-mm film about the Astor
Branch Station is a part of the Films and Videotapes Collection (P29:1). Additional
information about the Northrup Creek Grazing Experiment is in the Agricultural
Communications Record Group (RG 69, Accession 91:160) and Photograph Collection
(P120:8099-8208).